WASHINGTON -- He called himself "griton," Spanish for screamer, and allegedly used stolen Harvard University passwords to sneak into U.S. military computers from his home -- in Buenos Aires, Argentina.He hacked his way into NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, poked around the Los Alamos National Laboratory and even tried, but failed, to invade the Army Research Laboratory's computer system.Yesterday, federal officials announced an arrest warrant for Argentine Julio Cesar Ardita, 22, who was described as part cybersnoop, part cyberspook, and was unmasked in an international crime hunt carried out with the first-ever computer wiretap order.

An Army prosecutor told a military judge Monday that Pfc. Bradley Manning drew on his military training to harvest hundreds of thousands of classified documents from military computers and dump them on the Internet, where he knew their release would endanger fellow U.S. soldiers. An attorney for Manning described the 25-year-old soldier as naive but well-intentioned, and said he released the materials because "he was hoping to make the world a better place. " The long-awaited court-martial of the onetime Marylander, who is at the center of the largest security breach in U.S. history, began at Fort Meade on Monday with opening statements from both sides.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Russian and U.S. military crews overcame a minor glitch yesterday as they wound up their first shift at a special center designed to ensure that Y2K computer problems don't lead to an accidental launch of a nuclear missile.The problem involving a telephone "hot line" was blamed on human rather that technological error.The former Cold War foes began 24-hour operations yesterday morning in the so-called Center for Year 2000 Strategic Stability, a $4.5 million facility that allows both sides to observe missile warning information collected from U.S. radar and satellites.

Army investigators found nearly half a million field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan on a computer memory card among the belongings of Pfc. Bradley Manning, with a note suggesting that an unnamed recipient "sit on this information" while deciding how best to distribute it, according to testimony Monday. The note called the reports "possibly one of the more significant documents of our time" and said they would remove "the fog of war" and reveal "the true nature of 21st century asymmetric warfare," Army special agent David Shaver told the officer leading a preliminary hearing at Fort Meade.

Army investigators found nearly half a million field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan on a computer memory card among the belongings of Pfc. Bradley Manning, with a note suggesting that an unnamed recipient "sit on this information" while deciding how best to distribute it, according to testimony Monday. The note called the reports "possibly one of the more significant documents of our time" and said they would remove "the fog of war" and reveal "the true nature of 21st century asymmetric warfare," Army special agent David Shaver told the officer leading a preliminary hearing at Fort Meade.

Senior military leaders took the exceptional step of briefing President George W. Bush this week on a severe and widespread electronic attack on Defense Department computers that might have originated in Russia, posing unusual concern among commanders and potential implications for national security. Defense officials would not describe the extent of damage inflicted on military networks. But they said the attack struck hard at networks within U.S. Central Command, the headquarters that oversees U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and affected computers in combat zones.

An Army prosecutor told a military judge Monday that Pfc. Bradley Manning drew on his military training to harvest hundreds of thousands of classified documents from military computers and dump them on the Internet, where he knew their release would endanger fellow U.S. soldiers. An attorney for Manning described the 25-year-old soldier as naive but well-intentioned, and said he released the materials because "he was hoping to make the world a better place. " The long-awaited court-martial of the onetime Marylander, who is at the center of the largest security breach in U.S. history, began at Fort Meade on Monday with opening statements from both sides.

Hackers in the United States and abroad have gained access to hundreds of sensitive but unclassified government and military computer networks on the global Internet network, computer security experts said yesterday.While most of the intruders appear to be out for the computer equivalent of a joy ride, federal investigators say that some of them have been able to take control of several military computer systems, allowing them to steal, alter or erase computer records, even to shut the computer systems down.

By John Markoff and John Markoff,New York Times News Service | March 3, 1992

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- A Silicon Valley company has hired the Russian scientist who created the supercomputers used by the Soviet space program and the military to design nuclear weapons.The contract is one of the first examples of a U.S. business tapping the wealth of scientific talent that until recently was dedicated to the former Soviet Union's vast military program.Russian scientist Boris A. Babayan will set up a laboratory in Moscow for Sun Microsystems Inc. that will employ his team of about 50 software and hardware designers.

The soaring commercial jetliner business helped boost Northrop Grumman Corp.'s third-quarter profit 25.6 percent higher than during the same period last year, the company said yesterday.Gains in supplying aircraft parts to Boeing Co. offset a softer performance by the aerospace company's electronics business, and net income of $98 million for the quarter topped last year's mark of $78 million.The profit translated to $1.46 per share, compared to $1.18 per share for the third quarter of 1996.

Senior military leaders took the exceptional step of briefing President George W. Bush this week on a severe and widespread electronic attack on Defense Department computers that might have originated in Russia, posing unusual concern among commanders and potential implications for national security. Defense officials would not describe the extent of damage inflicted on military networks. But they said the attack struck hard at networks within U.S. Central Command, the headquarters that oversees U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and affected computers in combat zones.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Russian and U.S. military crews overcame a minor glitch yesterday as they wound up their first shift at a special center designed to ensure that Y2K computer problems don't lead to an accidental launch of a nuclear missile.The problem involving a telephone "hot line" was blamed on human rather that technological error.The former Cold War foes began 24-hour operations yesterday morning in the so-called Center for Year 2000 Strategic Stability, a $4.5 million facility that allows both sides to observe missile warning information collected from U.S. radar and satellites.

WASHINGTON -- He called himself "griton," Spanish for screamer, and allegedly used stolen Harvard University passwords to sneak into U.S. military computers from his home -- in Buenos Aires, Argentina.He hacked his way into NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, poked around the Los Alamos National Laboratory and even tried, but failed, to invade the Army Research Laboratory's computer system.Yesterday, federal officials announced an arrest warrant for Argentine Julio Cesar Ardita, 22, who was described as part cybersnoop, part cyberspook, and was unmasked in an international crime hunt carried out with the first-ever computer wiretap order.

Hackers in the United States and abroad have gained access to hundreds of sensitive but unclassified government and military computer networks on the global Internet network, computer security experts said yesterday.While most of the intruders appear to be out for the computer equivalent of a joy ride, federal investigators say that some of them have been able to take control of several military computer systems, allowing them to steal, alter or erase computer records, even to shut the computer systems down.

By John Markoff and John Markoff,New York Times News Service | March 3, 1992

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- A Silicon Valley company has hired the Russian scientist who created the supercomputers used by the Soviet space program and the military to design nuclear weapons.The contract is one of the first examples of a U.S. business tapping the wealth of scientific talent that until recently was dedicated to the former Soviet Union's vast military program.Russian scientist Boris A. Babayan will set up a laboratory in Moscow for Sun Microsystems Inc. that will employ his team of about 50 software and hardware designers.

"Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw - By the Man Who Did It," by Tsutomu Shimomura with John Markoff. Hyperion. 324 pages. $24.95Kevin Mitnick is no John Dillinger. When FBI agents burst into his Raleigh, N.C., apartment a year ago, Mitnick didn't pull a gun. He threw up.That anticlimax reflected the nature of his crimes - stealing software, tampering with telephone systems, reading other people's electronic mail. Though his scams required skill, they were seedy and sophomoric, never grand or terrifying.

The Pentagon has picked Aberdeen Proving Ground as one of four defense research centers in the nation to participate in a planned $1.4 billion program to modernize the military's advanced computers.Proving ground researchers use "supercomputers" to develop weaponry and other materiel. The modernization program announced this week will allow the replacement of outdated equipment, officials said.Aberdeen scientists have been involved in developing advanced computers for nearly 50 years, including the ENIAC, or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator, the world's first electronic digital computer.